PRIME MINISTER’S ENERGY IGNORANCE

Despite owning a property in the Hunter, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull demonstrated today he doesn’t understand the challenges the Hunter region is facing.

Barnaby Joyce represents parts of the Hunter, but he has no clue either.

In the Parliament today, the Government claimed Labor has a plan to close our coal-fired electricity generators.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

But what they don’t understand is that our four generators are nearing the end of their commercial lives. And no one wants to invest in new ones. That is commercial fact.

Labor, while in Government had a plan for this large, key economic transition. Malcolm Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce have no plan and that is bad news for the Hunter.

Labor understands the value of coal to the Hunter region, and the importance of base-load power to industries such as Tomago. But coal-fired power stations will not be built and we must find alternatives.

Labor will always stand up for jobs, which is more than can be said for the Prime Minister and his Deputy.